Texas Almanac, 1952-1953 Page: 350
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350 TEXAS ALMANAC.-1952-1953.
Article I.-(Continued.); Articles II and III.
the Forty-fourth Legislature (1935), adopted in an
election Aug. 24, 1935.3
Sec. 16. There Shall Be No Bill of Attain-
der or ex Post Facto Laws.-No bill of attain-
der or ex post facto law, retroactive law, or
any other law impairing the obligation of
contracts, shall be made.
Sec. 17. Privileges and Franchises: Eminent
Domain.-No person's property shall be taken,
damaged or destroyed for or applied to public
use without adequate compensation being
made, unless by the consent of such person;
and, when taken, except for the use of the
State, such compensation shall be first made
or secured by a deposit of money; and no
irrevocable or uncontrollable grant of special
privileges or Immunities shall be made; but
all privileges and franchises granted by the
Legislature or created under its authority,
shall be subject to the control thereof.
Sec. 18. No Imprisonment for Debt.-No
person shall ever be imprisoned for debt.
Sec. 19. Due Course of Law.-No citizen of
this State shall be deprived of life, liberty,
property, privileges or immunities, or in any
manner disfranchised, except by the due
course of the law of the land.
Sec. 20.-No Outlawry or Deportations.-No
citizen shall be outlawed, nor shall any per-
son be transported out of the State for any
offense committed within the same.
Sec. 21. Corruption of Blood, Forfeiture;
Suicide.-No conviction shall work corruption
of blood or forfeiture of estate, and the es-
tates of those who destroy their own lives
shall descend or vest as in the case of natural
death.
Sec. 22. Treason.-Treason against the State
shall consist only in levying war against it,
or adhering to its enemies, giving them aid
and comfort; and no person shall be convicted
of treason except on the testimony of two
witnesses to the same overt act, or on con-
fession in open court.
See. 23. Right to Bear Arms.-Every citizen
shall have the right to keep and bear arms in
the lawful defense of himself or the State;
but the Legislature shall have power, by law,
to regulate the wearing of arms, with a view
to prevent crime.
Sec. 24. Military Subordinate to Civil Au-
thority.-The military shall at all times be
subordinate to the civil authority.
Sec. 25. Quartering Soldiers.-No soldier
shall in time of peace be quartered in the
house of any citizen without the consent of
the owner, nor in time of war but in a man-
ner prescribed by law.
Sec. 26. Perpetuities; Monopolies; Primo-
geniture; Entailments.-Perpetuities and mo-
nopolies are contrary to the genius of a free
government, and shall never be allowed, nor
shall the law of primogeniture or entailments
ever be in force in this State.
Sec. 27. Right of Petition Guaranteed-The
citizens shall have the right, in a peaceable
manner, to assemble together for their com-
mon good and apply to those invested with
the power oers of government for rearess of
grievances or other purposes, by petition,
address or rmonstrance.
Sec. 28. Power to Suspend Laws.-No power
of suspending laws in this State shall be xer-
cised except by the Legislature.
Sec. 29. "Bill of Rights" Inviolate.-To
guard against transgrsgons of the high pow-
ers herein delegated, we declare that every-
thing in this "Bill of Rights" is excepted out
of the general powers of government, and
shall forever remain inviolate, and all laws
contrary thereto, or to the following provi-
sions, shall be void.ARTICLE II.-THE POWERS OF
GOVERNMENT
Sec. 1. Departments of Government to Be
Kept Distinct.-The powers of the govern-
ment of the State of Texas shall be divided
into three distinct departments, each of which
shall be confided to a separate body of magis-
tracy, to wit: Those which are legislative to
one, those which are executive to another, and
those which are judicial to another; and no
person, or collection of persons, being of one
of these departments, shall exercise any pow-
er properly attached to either of the others,
except in the instances herein expressly per-
mitted.
ARTICLE lil.-LEGISLATIVE
DEPARTMENT
Sec. 1. The Legislature: House and Senate.
-The legislative power of this State shall be
vested in a Senate and House of Representa-
tives, which together shall be styled "The
Legislature of the State of Texas."
See. 2. Number of Members Limited.-The
Senate shall consist of thirty-one members,
and shall never be increased above this num-
ber. The House of Representatives shall, con-
sist of ninety-three .members until the first
apportionment after the adoption of this
Constitution, when or at any apportionment
thereafter the number of Representatives may
be increased by the Legislat e, upon the
ratio of not more than one Representative
for every 15,000 inhabitants; provided, the
number of Representatives shall never ex-
ceed 150.
See. 3. Election of Senators; New Appor-
tionment.-The Senators shall be chosen by
the qualified electors for the term of four
years; but a new Senate shall be chosen after
every apportionment, and the Senators elected
after each apportionment shall be divided by
lot into two classes. The seats of the Senators
of the first class shall be vacated at the ex-
piration of the first two years, and those of
the second class at the expiration of four
years, so that one half of the ySenators shall
be chosen bienially thereafter.'
Sec. 4. Election of Representatives; Term
of Office.-The members of the House of
Representatives shall be chosen by the quali-
fied electors, and their term of office shall
be two years from the day of their election.
Sec. 5. Time of Meeting; Method of Pro-
cedure.-The Legislature shall meet every two
years at such time as may.be'provided by law
and at other times when convened by the
Governor. When convened in regular session.
the first thirty days thereof shall be devoted
to the introduction of bills and resolutions,
acting upon emergency appropriations, pass-
ing upon the confirmation of the recess ap-
pointees of the Governor and such emergency
matters as may be submitted by the Governor
in special messages to the Legislature; pro-
vided, that during the succeeding thirty days
of the regular session of the Legislature the
various committees of each house shall hold
hearings to consider all bills and resolutions
and other matters then pending; and such
emergency matters as may be submitted by
the Governor; provided, further, that during
the following sixty days the Legislature shall
act upon such bills and resolutions as may be
then pending and upon such emergency mat-
ters as may be submitted by the Governor in
special messages to the Legislature; provided,
however, either house may otherwise deter-
mine its order of business by an affirmative
vote of four fifths of its membership.
[Note.-Sec. 5 of Art. III has been amended
once, to provide for a 120-day session. It was
submitted together with the amendment of Sec. 24
of Art. III. Submitted by the Forty-first Legisla-
ture (1929); ratified Nov. 4, 1930.]'
Sec. 6. Qualifications of Senators.-No per-
son shall be a Senator unless he be a citizen
of the United States, and, at the time of his
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Texas Almanac, 1952-1953, book, 1951; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117137/m1/352/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.